Connections

Ziyan's home was located in the Cloud Sound Garden residential complex in the Eastern District.

As a hugely popular star back then, she had been worth a fortune, so naturally the home she bought was a luxury residence.

The apartment was a high-rise duplex in Cloud Sound Garden, with a total area of more than four hundred square meters across its two floors—over two hundred square meters per floor.

When she bought it, property prices here had been 150,000 per square meter. The apartment, renovations, and furniture had cost nearly seventy million altogether. Even anywhere on the mainland, this would have counted as a luxury home.

Although she had had a great deal in savings back then, five years of expenses after retiring had not been small either. By now, she only had a little over ten million left in savings.

Perhaps that amount would last an ordinary person a lifetime, but to Ziyan, it was far from enough.

She wanted to give Mengmeng a good life, and that was one reason she was making a comeback.

Of course, the bigger reason was still her dream of being a star. Her dream had yet to come true, and she did not want to give up.

They returned home.

"Mengmeng, did you have fun playing with Aunt Wang?" Ziyan asked with a smile.

The moment she saw Mengmeng, the pressure in her heart eased considerably. Only when she saw Mengmeng would she shed the coldness from her face and wear a gentle, sweet smile.

Aunt Wang was a professional nanny Ziyan had hired at a high salary. Her name was Wang Juan, and she was responsible for looking after Mengmeng and cleaning the house.

"It was, it was okay. It wasn't as fun as being with Daddy. I miss Daddy," Mengmeng said, pouting.

"You'll get to see your daddy once he's done with work."

Ziyan replied irritably.

The little girl had only spent five days with Zhang Han and was already becoming dependent on him. If this went on any longer, wouldn't that be a disaster?

At that moment, Ziyan was already thinking that she could not let Mengmeng see Zhang Han too often.

Control. Yes, she definitely had to control it.

While one side was happily coaxing a child, Zhang Han, on the other side, lay on the sofa and groggily opened his eyes.

"Mm... it's eight o'clock already?"

Zhang Han sat up. He had slept from noon until eight in the evening, yet even after sleeping so long, he still felt exhausted.

Growl...

Zhang Han's stomach rumbled twice, reminding him that it was time for dinner.

At a restaurant downstairs, Zhang Han directly ordered several foods that replenished blood.

Black chicken soup, stir-fried pork liver with spinach, and a large cup of brown sugar water.

The black chicken soup was fresh, but the moment picky Zhang Han took a bite of the chicken, he knew it was not authentic free-range chicken.

Free-range chickens were also known as farm chickens. They were raised at home without being fed industrial growth-promoting feed. Chickens, ducks, and geese fed on such feed grew larger, but their nutritional value was not as rich as it should have been, and they could even contain chemical substances harmful to the body.

Free-range chickens were different. In every respect, they were much better than feed-raised chickens, especially in flavor—they were more fragrant and tender.

To put it another way, an ordinary chicken bought in the city would become tender after being stewed for an hour, while a home-raised farm chicken would still be rather firm after an hour of stewing. Fundamentally, the two were far apart.

That was why farm chickens generally cost over a hundred yuan, while feed-raised chickens cost around twenty. As for those sold at markets for fifty or seventy yuan each, they were basically fakes as well.

The black chicken Zhang Han was eating was listed on the menu as home-raised free-range chicken, but it was clearly not what it claimed to be.

Zhang Han did not fuss over it. Once he planted the Thunder Sun Tree, he could raise some himself. Until then, he would just have to make do.

Because he had lost too much blood, Zhang Han forcibly finished the entire black chicken, drank all the soup and brown sugar water, and ate all the pork liver, leaving himself truly stuffed.

After the meal, he rested in the restaurant for ten minutes, paid, and left. He called Zhang Li and headed to her rented apartment.

The apartment was eighty-eight square meters, with more than sixty square meters of usable space. It had two bedrooms and one living room, decorated rather warmly. The two girls had kept it very tidy.

"Xiao Li, do you know anyone at the Lands Department?" Zhang Han asked in Zhang Li's bedroom.

"No. Brother, why does your face look so pale? Are you sick?" Zhang Li asked worriedly.

"Maybe I caught a chill while sleeping. It's nothing." Zhang Han shook his head with a faint smile.

"Why are you asking about people from the Lands Department?" Zhang Li asked curiously.

"I want to... lease a hill."

"Pfft..." Zhang Li nearly choked on her own saliva. Her eyes widened as she said incredulously, "Did I hear you right, Brother? What do you want to lease a hill for?"

"Don't make such a fuss." Zhang Han lightly tapped Zhang Li on the forehead. "I want to grow some things on it."

"But there's no need to lease an entire hill, is there? In Hong Kong, it's not like you can lease one just because you want to. And even if you could, the price would definitely be outrageously high. Brother, you're being far too reckless," Zhang Li said in a tone of exasperation.

"You'll find out later. I have to lease a hill. Do you know any friends at the Lands Department or not?" Zhang Han said casually.

"I don't know anyone from the land bureau. Wait! I'll go ask Li Anna." Zhang Li hurriedly ran out as soon as she said that.

Li Anna was the other tenant of the apartment. She had studied at Hong Kong University for four years and, after graduating, had worked as an office clerk at a large company for two years. She knew many people.

Li Anna was around 1.6 meters tall, rather petite, with a round little face that gave her a somewhat cute appearance. When she saw Zhang Han, who was a full 1.8 meters tall, her eyes lit up. Since she liked tall boys, she greeted him, "Hello, Brother Zhang."

"Hello." Zhang Han nodded.

"Brother Zhang, I heard you wanted to rent a mountain? Which mountain have you taken a liking to?" Li Anna asked with a smile.

Her preference for tall men did not mean she fell for every tall man she met. There was no such thing as that much love at first sight in the world. After a simple greeting, she got down to business.

"New Moon Mountain."

"New Moon Mountain?" Li Anna's expression changed slightly. The answer was somewhat beyond her expectations, and her tone grew more serious. "New Moon Mountain isn't simple. No one even knows whether the Hong Kong authorities plan to develop it. After all, it borders New Moon Bay. Even if it were developed, the land would probably go up for bidding. If you want to lease it yourself, forgive me for being blunt, but you may be thinking too far ahead."

"What about a short-term lease? Anywhere from one to five years would do." Zhang Han frowned slightly.

Setting everything else aside, he would not give up the spiritual water on New Moon Mountain alone.

If it really came down to it, I'll just claim the mountain and become its king. Would I, Immortal Lord Hanyang, really let the laws of the mundane world restrain me?

Of course, that thought only flickered through his mind. Right now, Immortal Lord Hanyang really had to behave himself.

"Short-term?" Li Anna paused in surprise before saying, "That might be possible. I'll ask a friend for you."

"Thank you." Zhang Han nodded.

Li Anna took out her phone and called to ask right in front of him. She was clearly sincere about helping—she was quite a warmhearted person.

After ending the call, Li Anna smiled faintly and said:

"He said you should contact him at seven tomorrow morning and meet to discuss it. It looks promising. Brother Zhang, write down his number. Just contact him directly tomorrow morning. His name is Liu Meng, and his number is XXXXXXX."

"Alright, thanks. Anna, have you had dinner? Let me treat you to a late-night snack." Zhang Han said with a faint smile.

His polite words and sunny smile gave Li Anna a very good first impression of him, but she still shook her head with a smile.

"No late-night snack for me. Eating at night makes you gain weight. Brother Zhang, you don't need to be so polite. Zhang Li and I are very close."

"Alright, stop being so formal. I need to go to work. Bro, are you staying here?" Zhang Li asked.

"I'm going back to Milan Community."

Zhang Han rose to his feet.

After saying goodbye to his sister downstairs, Zhang Han drove the purplish-blue Jeep Wrangler back to his home in Milan Community.

When he passed a supermarket, Zhang Han bought brown sugar and red dates. After returning home, he steeped them in water and drank three cups. They were all good for replenishing blood.

He went to bed early. At seven the next morning, Zhang Han called Liu Meng. After explaining the matter directly, the two arranged to meet at eight at a Starbucks near Milan Community.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang." Liu Meng arrived on time and warmly extended his hand when they met.

"Mm."

Zhang Han nodded slightly. After shaking hands, he gave him a few appraising looks. Liu Meng was formally dressed, thin and dark-skinned, and his mannerisms showed that he was an old hand.

"I heard that Mr. Zhang wants to rent New Moon Mountain?" Liu Meng asked.

"Yes."

"New Moon Mountain may be developed in the next few years. Have you considered any other places?" Liu Meng asked with a slight smile.

"No. I only want to know whether New Moon Mountain can be rented." Zhang Han got straight to the point.

"Then may I ask what you intend to do with New Moon Mountain if you rent it?" Liu Meng asked.

"Plant some things." Zhang Han smiled faintly.

"This won't be easy to handle. But since you're Anna's friend, I can ask around for you. Still, if you really do lease it, there will be many restrictions—for example, you can't cut down trees or alter the land. Can you accept those conditions?" Liu Meng said.

"I can." Zhang Han nodded. "If there are any other requirements, feel free to mention them."

Those words struck right at Liu Meng's heart. After all, he did not want to help for free. Thus, Liu Meng became much more enthusiastic throughout the rest of their conversation. After chatting for a while, when it was nearly nine, Liu Meng got up to take his leave and told Zhang Han that he would give him a definite answer that evening.

That morning, Zhang Han bought some premium beef, kelp, wood ear mushrooms, and other foods that could indirectly replenish blood. He also went to a traditional medicine shop to buy blood-tonifying herbs. He planned to stay home and nourish his body during the day, because when the Thunder Sun Tree was planted, it would absorb a great deal of his blood as well.

Naturally, he needed to replenish himself properly over the next few days. Otherwise, before the tree was even planted, he might die from excessive blood loss. That would be a huge joke.

Meanwhile, at Imperial Dynasty Entertainment, Ziyan and Zhou Fei were still in the listening room.

They listened to songs one after another, sorting through them. It was an exhausting task.

The fundamental issue was that the songs in the music library were simply too mediocre. A large portion of them could even be called trash.

But there was no helping it. Those were the resources available, take them or leave them.

So the two could only choose songs whose quality could be elevated by Ziyan's excellent voice. It was a difficult path, but Ziyan persisted.

After an entire day, they had only selected thirty songs that were barely worth looking at. Once they had chosen a hundred, they would pick the slightly better ones from among those hundred "short people."